Mistress of Sand
by daniiduhh
Summary: When a young female thief unintentionally gets mixed up with an evil plot, it'll be all she can do to stay alive in ancient Egypt. This story follows her adventures in the time of the pharaohs while she attempts to juggle friendships, rivalry and love all while trying to save the world. Mostly just using the characters from YuGiOh, will be some fantasy/magic. OcxBakura/Kaiba
1. Chapter 1

The alter smoked with potent smelling incense that filled the prayer room with a light haze. The walls were adorned with golden tapestries and rich fabrics and the floor was a swirl of cold, hard marble. A girl knelt in the center of it all, head bowed, or rather hanging with emotional defeat. Her linen dress fell around her in a mess of cream and turquoise waves and it hugged her shoulders, exposing her dainty, tanned collar bone but flowed down her arms into a bell as if to modestly cover her array of golden bracelets. She took a deep breath and lifted her gaze to the candles flickering before her. They bathed er face in warm light that danced across her feminine features and sandy blonde hair. The flame lost itself in her deep lapis lazuli orbs that struggled to fight back tears. One hand clawed at the floor, another gripped the left side of her chest. A pain inside her held tight to her heart.

A figure silently snuck up behind her. "Don't you think it is a little late to be repenting your sins, thief?" the voice seethed. A lengthy shadow stretched over the girl, slithering into her view.

She growled, blinking back her tears. She blew out the candles and watched the last bit of inscense burn before she stood. "I'm hardly looking for forgiveness, Seth." She spun on her bare feet to face who was the high priest standing before her. He stared down at you, his blue eyes meeting hers. His large stature belittled her small frame, but not her spirit. Bowing her head briefly, she continued on her way brushing passed him. His long beige and purple robes billowed as she went by, or it could have been when he twisted to catch her shoulder in a tight grip. Giving his hand a rough nudge, she shook him off and stormed out of the prayer room.

"Nuri Kanika, you seem troubled," a priestess stopped her, seeming concerned. She smiled at Kanika nicely and she kept her gaze to the floor.

"It is nothing," she reassured her. She took up her quick pace again and turned a sharp corner, disappearing from the sight of holiness.

The high priest Seth re-emerged from the room looking frustrated. He tightened the hold he had on the golden rod in his hand until his knuckles went white. The girl angered him; she was the secret the Temple of Ra hid from the world under the grand building itself. The priest before him took a risk by taking her in many years ago for if the pharaoh found out it would surely be both their heads . . .

She followed a long hallway to a heavy stone door she pushed open on its ancient hinges which led her to another corridor, this one lit with tall torches. Ahead of her was a flight of spiral stairs leading to a less emense wooden door. The walls wreaked of musty wet clay but she had grown accustomed to it over the years. This was after all, your home. From her golden sash she retrieved a thick iron key and slid it into the lock on the door until a familiar click signaled it had been opened. A large room was revealed to her, its walls stretched a good twenty feet high. A single beam of bright sunlight shone into the room from a hole in the ceiling. That wasn't where it stopped though. One beam bounced off the piles of treasure collected below it, casting a sparkle that twinkled around the empty space. From there the light pierced gems and stopped at the statues and solid . Colours danced across the walls in a rich waltz. She could tell the sun was beginning to set for the light was deep and dull.

Laid out on her bed was a different garb. This one had more pieces with multiple parts to it; a skirt, an archer's style hyde top, a pair of suede boots, bandages and wraps, as well as a belt to hold all her weapons and earnings. She pulled off her dress as she walked towards her bed, crossing under the warm stream of sunlight. Her shirt was a corset form, split open at a centered seam that you wound black rope through, pulling it snuggly to her body. One strap hugged her left shoulder. Her skirt was a simple linen wrap that reached the middle of her thigh, she closed with a brown sash at her waist. She slid on her knee high, sandy brown suede boots and tied them up at the front in a similar way she did her shirt. Finally she wound the bandages over your forearms. The gold bands around her neck glistened like a wealthy Pharaoh's tomb.

Knabbing up her dagger, she sheathed it between her belt and side. It was her prized possession; stolen from the palace itself. The hilt was pure gold, encrusted with large rubies and sapphires and she polished it every morning and wiped it after each kill.

There was a rope in the corner of the room hanging just off to the side of a latch which was in turn next to the hole now sending moonlight across the floor in a white mist. She leapt from the ground and grabbed hold of the rope about halfway up. A few more feet of scaling and she reached the perfect position to swing her body towards the hatch. After three or four powerful thrusts, she launched herself, legs first, breaking through the trap door on her ceiling. She collapsed into a sandy heap in the desert space just outside the temple walls. A jackal howled somewhere in the distance. Jumping to her feet, she dusted herself off and headed towards the outer reaches of the city where the pyramids loomed ahead and the tombs waited below.


	2. Chapter 2

She slipped through the shadows among the pyramids, winding her way past the guards as she headed for her target. The breeze was cool as it blew across the sand, a relief from the day's scorching heat and the moon provided a sufficient glow to light her path.

The familiar clink of a guard's sheathed sword against his belt alerted her of his presence and she froze, becoming one with the stone wall of a pyramid. Her breath became shallow, almost nonexistent - a snake slithered across her foot. The man came into sight and again disappeared from her view. Determining it was safe to leave her position, she continued on.

_This is too easy_, she thought to herself, approaching the burial sight of a very infamous, crooked tax collector. He had power when he was alive, reigning along side the previous pharaoh who had been just as wicked as he. The people had revolted against the pharaoh, dragged him through the streets by horseback and sent his body the desert to rot. His sleazy right-hand met a similar death, but paid well to have his belongings - and remains - preserved in a small tomb before meeting his demise. That's when Atem came into power, the pharaoh's kind hearted nephew.

Rounding the corner to the upper entrance of the tomb, she was startled by the sight of three guards. "Are she kidding me?!" she seethed under her breath, ducking back behind the wall but it was too late. They had spotted her. _Why so much man power for this bastard? He really must be loaded... _

One guard came around the corner, swinging. Ducking down and dodging his sword, she lunged forward at his knees. The first guard went down, smashing the back of his head on a rock. "Convenient," she laughed. The second guard came up quickly behind her, he was not so lucky as she grabbed a hold of the unconscious guard's sword, plunging it into his leg. He cried out and would later pass out from the pain. The third kept watch at the door, waiting for her arrival if she had lived through the attack. She unexpectedly came from above, knocking the guard unconscious with her fall. "Way too easy."

* * *

She returned to town with the spoils of her mission in tow, but she carried with her one special item. It was a commission of sorts. She was contracted by an anonymous source, who had something of value in exchange for retrieving this specific item. It was a scimitar, encrusted in gold and adorned with rubies and sapphires throughout the hilt. _It'll be a shame to have to give this up..._ However, what he offered was worth more than a decorative piece of weaponry.

The streets were empty, the night upon its darkest hour as the villagers slept peacefully in their homes amidst their loved ones. Meanwhile, she would return home to retire alone as she always had.

A voice called out to her from an alley, "Hey, thief."

she turned her head to face the blackness between the two walls of the building and a hand reached out, beckoning her in. Gripping onto her dagger, she cautiously crept into the dark but not before grabbing a hold of a dimly lit torch burning its last bit of oil on the wall nearby.

It was enough light to illuminate the figure of a the young man, probably in his mid twenties. His hair was a desert dishevelled crop atop his head; dark, maybe brown or black from what she could make out and his eyes caught the fiery ember of the burning torch as if crafted from the element itself. Chest bare, and legs clad in linen shorts, it was not his impressive physique that caught her eye but the strap stretched across his body from shoulder to hip.

"The scrolls first, then you get your fancy knife," she smirked and gestured with her fingers to hand it over.

His voice was calm, low, malicious even. He spoke as though he was possessed by the spirit of the snake itself as he took a step closer to her. "As you wish."

The mysterious man tossed her the scrolls and she swiftly picked them up, opening them to verify its contents. Maps. Maps that outlined miles upon miles of tombs and pyramids where riches awaited, some buried deep beneath the sand and undiscovered. A small smile crossed her lips and she exchanged him the scimitar which he tucked away on his person.

"How this is worth more than these maps is beyond me," she shrugged and began to turn and walk away. That's when she felt it. A gasp escaped her lips and she fell to her knees. Blood seeped from her top, the warm liquid flowing over her hand as she held her side, the blade of his knife between her fingers. "W-What the hell..."

"I thought you were supposed to be one of the best, but you women, you are all so naive. Mistress of Sand or not, you are but a petty thief." The man huffed. He reached down next to her for the maps. That's when she struck, nailing him in the eye with the blade he so politely left in her side. A loud roar of pain echoed through the alley as he stumbled back and pawed at his face.

With all of her strength, she gathered up the maps and got to her feet. The first few steps she made were more of the stumbling, hobble type but she mustered what she had left and ran. She ran as fast as she could towards the temple and did not look back. The man did not follow and soon the silhouette of the temple came into a hazy view. Her vision began to close in on itself, shrouding her peripherals in shadow and once again she dropped to the sand. The maps spilled out around her and she knew she would not make it to her hideout.

A pair of hooves appeared before her eyes, but it couldn't have been reality, could it? _Is this how I shall die? A victim of my own greed. Seems befitting... _The last thing she saw were boots landing in the sand next to her head and finally, the dark took over.

* * *

"And ... how did this happen, Abasi?" a stern voice grunted at the injured man.

Kneeling on one knee, the ashamed Abasi lowered his head, staring at the ground with his now one good eye. "I underestimated her, my deepest apologies master."

"I see..." There was a long silence before the "master" spoke again, his voice booming angrily. "Need I remind you of how important it is that the scimitar remain in one piece as well?!"

"Excuse me, master?" Abasi asked, glancing upwards. Before him, sat on a throne, was an ancient looking man. He was draped in rich fabrics and a crooked, wooden staff was leaning against his oversized seat. The chamber was lit by a few torches, casting light across the bare, cold walls of what resembled a burial chamber.

An exacerbated sigh escaped his thin, cracking lips. "There is a stone missing from the hilt, a sapphire. You find that girl, and you retrieve it or I shall take from you something a little more precious than your sight, Abasi..." he hissed.


	3. Chapter 3

When Kanika awoke, she wasn't faced with the visions of the afterlife she'd expected or even the sandy clay ceiling of her underground domain, but a intricate series of mosaic tiles. Her body was cold from her waist up; she had no idea where she was or really any recollection of what happened. However, when she sat up in bed in alarm, the searing pain that shot through her body was a quick reminder. She gasped in shock and eased herself down onto her bed, groaning pathetically.

"Take it easy," a woman's voice cooed. "It is just nice to see she awake."

She rolled her head to the side and found that a young woman, a priestess from the Temple of Ra to be exact, was passing a cloth through a wash basin. It ran red with diluted blood. Looking down at herself, she saw her side had been wrapped in linen bandages, like the ones she used to wrap up her arms. Her chest was covered too, to conceal her _womanly parts_. "Where am I?" she asked, her mind still fuzzy from the pain.

She smiled kindly, but something about the smile seemed forced and her eyes (which she read carefully) didn't look like she wanted to be there. Not too mention she looked _deathly_ familiar. "You're in the palace infirmary and you have been for two days."

Her eyes widened. "Two days?! Wait, where are the maps?" she tried to prop herself up on her elbows, surveying the room for her belongings. In the corner she spotted her blood stained shirt, weapons, gold and treasure but no maps. Panic set in and she turned to the priestess harshly, forgetting all the care she had given her for the past forty-eight hours. "Where are they?" she hissed.

"They are where they belong, with the Priesthood, with the palace," came a knowledgeable, cold tone. There in the doorway stood the High Priest Seth. He leaned his body against the door frame and nodded to the priestess. "Krisitana, you may leave now. Your kindness won't go unnoticed."

She bowed to him and left the two of them be, gathering up the dirty cloth and bandages.

Seth came over to the bed and sat next to her. She shuffled over sluggishly because it hurt so much and he helped her sit up straight. She wasn't expecting his warm hand on her back and jumped, startled. "I'm changing your bandage," he soothed even if it was a little acrid. He started to unwrap the bandage, back to front and her stomach churned nervously as it got closer to her breasts. "We can't allow a thief to have the maps, especially _those_ maps," Seth stated, coming to the last bit of linen. It turned out that her chest piece was separate from the rest, which was relieving. "How did you get them anyway?"

She remained silent and he respected that. she were too busy wincing in pain as he cleaned out her wound with some kind of cold concoction.

"Listen, I can see she went through Anubis and back for these scrolls - "

She interrupted him crassly. "I will have those scrolls Seth."

He shook his head and he could tell he was frustrated for when he was wrapping her back up, he bumped into her cut roughly and she let out a yelp and a growl.

She stayed in the infirmary for another day and a half. One night Seth came to check up on her and the bed was empty, her stuff had been gathered up and there was no sign of Kanika anywhere. He was expecting something like that, so it didn't come as much of a surprise. He huffed, threw his hands in the air in defeat and stomped off. Little did he know she hadn't even left the palace yet, but moving quietly between its halls in search of the maps. She had a general idea as to where the treasury was and knowing where the general location of the pharaoh's room was, she could find her way.  
The guards were no issue to sneak passed and she was on the top floor of the palace in no time. She ventured the hall, admiring the statues and architecture used to put together the royal quarters. There were rooms upon rooms, many without locks or doors but she did pass a room whose door had been left ajar, merely a crack. She heard voices coming from inside and stopped to listen due to her curious nature. She recognized the first voice instantly as the Pharaoh Atem's having sat in on many of his announcements and the other was vague, but she knew it. It was a girl's voice, a fair one like the priestess that had looked after her. After careful deliberation, she concluded that it _was_ hers!

_"What is he doing with a priestess? A common wealth?"_ she pondered to herself. The temptation was too great. She felt obligated to eavesdrop.

They proceeded to talk amongst themselves, whispering in a tone barely audible to her. The Pharaoh was speaking now. He said, "It can be a secret engagement . . . no one has to know."  
The priestess was silent for a moment before replying anxiously, "But, my brother and your place on the throne?"

"It doesn't matter, I love you, Krisitana . . ."

She gasped, taking a startled step back. Knocking into a plant behind her, it wobbled and scraped along the wall before she quickly grabbed a hold of it. She heard footsteps coming towards the door and the tall shadow of the Pharaoh emerged from the room.

"Who's there?" he snapped, flicking his head from one side to the other trying to catch a glimpse of the eavesdropper, i.e. Kanika, but by that time she had scurried into a shadowy veil. He ducked back into the room, shutting the door behind him and it clicked, signalling it had been locked.

Bolting from her clever hiding spot, she hurried down the hall. The treasury was well in sight and coming up to the door she picked the lock with her trusty dagger. As tempting as it was to go after the many other riches inside, she know with her injured side it would be difficult to do much else than carry the maps. Once she had stolen the maps back, the security in the palace would be on heavy alert and make it that much harder to ever rob it again. After locating the scrolls, she made a swift exit over a balcony at the end of the hall, down the side of the palace and finally landed in the garden. She was clear from then on. Hastily she ran across the yard, throwing herself over the stone wall. Now, where would she hide the scrolls? Surely she couldn't bring them back to her quarters . . . Seth was too nosey but what if she did hide it somewhere in the Temple of Ra? So complicated it might just work . . .

Her side throbbed as she navigated through the dark. The bandages were drenched with warm blood. Deep down she knew she shouldn't have gone out, but soon enough she was faced with the familiar locked door to her quarters. The scrolls had been safely tucked away beneath the altar, carved from gold the shape of Ra but she knew it wouldn't be long before Seth came for she and the scrolls, only to find her quarters free of evidence.

Bending down and feeling through the dirt for a specific rock she found it was moved when she couldn't locate it right away. That was slightly suspicious but she figured that maybe Seth had been down earlier. The pitch black made it difficult to do much and the burning pain shooting through her wounds made her head dizzy and in turn, confused. Finally her hands wrapped around a dummy rock about a meter from where she left it and she shook it, hearing the key to her room inside. Popping off the top of the rock, she inserted the key in the lock and pried open the door. Before she even had the door closed, she felt a strong force fly into her, pinning her torso against the cold, stone wall.  
An excruciating yelp escaped her lips. A warm, sweet breath invaded her ear and a seething voice followed.

"Where are they, love?" The voice belonged to a man. He sounded impatient and enforced his impatience as he pressed against she, not oblivious to her soaking gash.

Between gasps for air, she pleaded ignorance. "Where are _what_, _Bakura_?" Dragging his name out that way made her gesture icy.

He smirked against her ear, amused. Then she felt something cold rest on the skin of her neck. "Don't be like this, Kanika. I know you better than that..." His tone was smooth. He took a deep intake of her smell, brushing his cheek against hers and chuckled. A shudder shot through her. "You're no use to me dead. At least, right-" Bakura stopped and removed his gaze from wherever it was to the crack between the door and the frame. Holding the blade tighter to her throat now, he whispered so quietly she barely heard him even if he was less than a centimetre away.

"Not a word, love." His hand slid over her mouth and he shuffled, holding her to him with an iron grip, along the wall into a dip which the door would close on when opened.

She heard the familiar clang of the guards boots hurry down the hall towards her small cavernous home. Seth must have revealed her position. They burst through the entry way with torches, illuminating the room in golden light.

"She isn't here..." Seth muttered angrily. "Neither are the scrolls."

Someone else spoke. He sounded husky and grunted with frustration. "Well, you leading us here might just have saved you, Seth. Hiding a thief is a criminal offence. You're lucky the Pharaoh favours you."

She was sure she could feel the two glaring daggers at each other. Their shadows stretched from the door to the wall but they vanished as soon as they had entered. The light faded until once again she was plunged into an unnerving darkness, or it was unconsciousness finding her again. Her body went cold and limp in his arms.  
"You wench..." Was all she could make out from Bakura's rant.


	4. Chapter 4

Dim light made its way through her parting eyelids, her head rolling from side to side. Words formed in her head, but failed to pass her lips and the pain at her side ceased to exist. As she came to her brain tried to grasp the vision in front of her that was going in and out of focus and despite the haze crowding her brain cavity she recognized the blob as Bakura. _Oh dear Ra, just kill me now. I beg of you..._

"I sort of like you like this..." Bakura chuckled, crawling closer to her, his arms at either side of her hips as he perched between her legs. "Helpless, but most of all... quiet. You know Kanika, I really do appreciate our conversations, but -" he took her jaw in his hand roughly with such force that it should have hurt and held her head up so her glazed eyes me his violet stare, "- I feel your mouth could be put to such better use..." He let her head fall, her chin crashing into her breast plate.

The collision stirred her from her daze enough to make a grunting nose and bring her head back up to his level. Her tingly tongue began to make the shape of words that fell from her mouth like a drunken slave. "Wh-... Wh-what did you do... to me..." she stuttered. All she wanted to do was shake this mess out of her head, shake the life back into her limbs, reach over and strangle him.

He shrugged and rest his hands on her thighs, massaging their insides with his thumbs. "Helping you actually. You were sick with pain, so I gave you some somniferum extract (opium poppy extract, aka. Morphine.) It'll wear off," he smirked, letting out another chuckle. "You're always so high-strung, it'd be good for you to relax for once."

He was right, it was starting to wear off, his touch sending shivers of disgust through her spine. Finally gaining some mobility, she lifted her arm only to find it was chained, along with the other one, behind her back to what she now realized was a bed post. A growl escaped her throat. Even more infuriated now that she could clearly make out the smug, scarred face of her rival she let adrenaline take over the drug's affect and yanked at her chains. "This wood won't hold for long Bakura, and when I am free, I will dig your heart out with my hands..."

"I don't see why you hate me so much. I mean, we are both after the same thing..." Bakura said, tucking her hair behind her ear with mock affection. By this time, he had made his way on top of her upright body, seating his pelvis on hers. He bent down, his cheek against her cheek, lips grazing her ear. His voice became a whisper. "... Wealth... infamy... power? Isn't that what you want?" He pulled away, pinning her head against the slatted headboard by her throat. "Isn't that why you risked your life for those scrolls?" He grinned menacingly.

She leered at him and stated, before spitting in his face, "I'm just trying to make my way."

He kept his position firmly on top of her and wiped his face while still smirking. "Keep telling yourself that, _Nuri_, but I know deep down you are as greedy as I am. As lonely as I am. The only love we will ever know is _gold_. Why do she think we are so good at what we do. You could be my queen you know, we could be the wealthiest in all of Egypt. All you have to do is tell me where those scrolls are and we could have it all..."

She remained silent, and he slowly climbed off of her to stand next to the bed. He pulled something from his robe and started tossing it in the air. It was a very large blue sapphire, the one she had swiped from the scimitar. She hadn't taken a look at it closely, but it looked as though it was glowing on the inside.

"Oh my dear Kanika, you will help me, whether or not you join me is up to you. You know why? Because in my hand here..." His hand closed tightly around the sapphire, his knuckles going white.

It felt as though lightening was striking her chest, her lungs longing for air as her heart palpitated violently.

"... I literally carry your heart."


End file.
